Chapter 2

Naomi had planned to ignore Emily the following day – she didn't want any more confusion added to this situation. Emily on the other hand had other ideas. Flouncing up to Naomi before morning registration, she tapped her on the shoulder. Naomi winced at this action and when she turned around, seeing Emily standing inches away from her, she felt a little winded. She opened her mouth to say something, but didn't know what to say and no words, no noise came out of it, so she shut it tightly again.
"Hey, Naomi." Emily said with an uneasy smile.
"Hi, erm, er..."
"Emily?"
"Yeah, sorry, Emily. Hi." was all Naomi managed to form.
"Are you going to Cook's birthday celebration tomorrow? Well, he said party but I think we're just hanging out at some shitty pub." a small laugh escaped her mouth, but her smile turned quickly to a sad frown when she saw Naomi just looking at her sharply. "Sorry, I was only asking. Jesus." she said, as she turned away to walk into form.
"Wait, Emily." Naomi called, "I'm sorry, I was just a little shocked. Erm, yeah I'll go, but has he actually invited me?"
"Well, he just kind of said as we were all walking to form to tell people to come. Those weren't actually his exact words, mind. But I thought it would be nice to invite you, seeing as we're all in the same form and all."
"Okay, yeah, I'll see you there later then." Emily nodded as Naomi said this, and walked off without looking back.

At lunch time, Naomi made her way outside and sat on one of the benches furthest away from everyone else. Placing her politics folder onto the table, she opened it and scanned through. It was so silent that it made her look up to examine the college grounds.

Emily stepped out one of the side doors of the main college building and started walking over to where Katie was, talking once again to the mindless Hair & Beauty students she'd spoken to the previous day. She glanced over to the other side of the grounds and saw Naomi sitting by herself at one of the benches, looking a little sorry for herself. Dangerous as it was, Emily decided to go and sit with Naomi trying to avoid the death-stare her sister was giving her.
Oh fuck, Naomi thought as she saw Emily wandering over to her, fuck, fuck. What is she doing? She started to gather her things together to try and leave before Emily got there, but she was too slow. Emily planted her bag on the floor, and her books at the edge of the table. She didn't say anything, she just smiled. This time it was Naomi who spoke first. "Hello."

"Hey, you okay?" Emily asked curiously, whilst staring into Naomi's pale blue eyes, searching them desperately.
Naomi paused a while, "I'm fine. I gotta go, sorry Em." standing up, she felt a cold hand grasp her wrist. Blood surged through her body as Emily's grasp lasted a little longer than it should have. She must have looked scared, as Emily let go of her wrist slowly once she felt Naomi tense up.
"Why? Why are you always avoiding me?" Emily's voice sounded rather hoarse as she enquired, almost as if she was upset.
"Sorry, Em. I am. But I've got to go." Naomi rushed off.
"Will I see you tomorrow?" she asked, as Naomi was about five metres away. No reply. Great, Emily thought,fuck sake, Naomi. Give me a chance.

Emily wandered into the almost run-down pub, following Katie, Pandora and Effy – the two other girls she shared a form with. She noticed Cook, Freddie and JJ at the bar, but no Naomi. Cook came over and gave them a warm welcome, before shouting at three other boys to get out. A couple of hours passed, and everyone bar Cook was having an awful time. Another twenty minutes passed and the front door of the pub opened, Emily looked over and saw Naomi walking through rather sheepishly.
"Ugh, great. It's the lesbian come to gay us up." Katie spat out, waiting for people to laugh. Upon hearing this, Emily sounded a rather harsh 'sh' to Katie, followed by "I've told you to fucking... Just leave it, okay!" before Naomi made her way over to the table they were all sitting at. Cook being Cook, made a joke about himself being able to cure Naomi's 'gayness' which everybody laughed at apart from Emily.
"Hey," she said trying to interrupt it, "look what I made." she pulled a cake out of her bag and handed it to Cook, before giving Naomi a small smile as a way of saying 'sorry'.
As they all decided to leave the pub, Naomi started to walk off in the opposite direction to everyone else. "Naomi, wait!" Emily called, trying to catch up with her. She rolled her eyes but didn't stop, "What?"
Emily was still chasing after her "Where are you going?"
"Home." Naomi stated sharply.
Emily paused, "Don't go." This made Naomi stop and turn around, "Why not?" she asked.
"I dunno." she paused again, "Because..." after not being able to finish her sentence, she just looked at Naomi gingerly who rolled her eyes.
"Why does your sister think I'm gay?" Naomi asked Emily, with a displeased look on her face.
"Sorry." was all Emily could reply with.

Sighing, Naomi replied "See you around, Emily." and walked off. Which left Emily looking upset and disappointed so she turned around and started to walk back to the rest of the gang – none of which had noticed the two's disappearance. Don't walk away, Emily, the voice in her head said, don't let her go. Emily stopped for a few seconds, weighing up her options: chase after Naomi and get an explanation, or walk away with the others never knowing the answer.
"Naomi, wait, come back here!" she shouted after Naomi, as she was near one hundred yards away. "Naomi! Fuck's sake." she launched herself to a sprint, thinking Naomi hadn't heard her.
"Em, just leave me alone."
"No, Naomi you can't keep doing this to me! I want to talk to you."
"Look, Emily, what don't you get? I don't want to talk to you, I never want to talk to you. Jesus Christ, why is everyone so fucked up around here?" she cried with a hint of anger in her voice. "I'm sorry, but I can't do this right now."
"Fine," Emily retaliated, "I'm not going to drop it though. I'll still see you at college on Monday, and you can't get away from me as easily there." the two stopped in their tracks.
"Fuck." Naomi blurted out. "Fine. See you Emily."